This invention relates to a process for the production of aldehydes from oxirane compounds and hydrogen peroxide.
Aldehydes are important intermediate products for the synthesis of medicaments or azo dyes. Also certain aldehydes, for example glutardialdehydes, are used, as tanning agents.
It is known that aldehydes can be obtained by a two-stage process in the first stage of which certain oxirane compounds are converted into the corresponding 1,2-diols which are subsequently converted in the second stage into the corresponding aldehydes by reaction with compounds such as lead tetra-acetate (R. Criegee, Ber. d. dtsch. chem. Ges. 64, 264 (1931)) or periodic acid (L. Malaprade, Bull. Soc. Chim. France (4) 43, 683 (1928)).
One disadvantage of this process is that the 1,2-diols must be prepared as intermediate products. Another disadvantage is that the oxidising agents used in the second stage, such as lead tetra-acetate or periodic acid, do not have a catalytic effect upon the reaction, instead they actually take part in it. Thus, the conversion products of the oxidising agents used for splitting the 1,2-diols have to be isolated on completion of the reaction and converted into the corresponding oxidising starting compounds before they are reused.